Android 7.0 Nougat Developer Preview 5 is available for download

The Android 7.0 Nougat Developer Preview 5 is available now – get it right here (OTA images here). There’s an official blog post accompanying the release from Dave Burke here, as well. What do you need to know? Preview 5 will be the final preview release for Android Nougat. The next major update that comes for supported Nexus devices will be the official Android 7.0 OTA.

Here are the notable changes:

New in DP5

Updated system images for supported devices and emulator

Developer Preview 5 includes near-final system images for supported devices and the Android emulator. The images include the final APIs (API level 24) for the upcoming Android N platform. When you are done testing, you can publish apps using API level 24 to Google Play, in alpha, beta, and production release channels.

Known Issues

Stability

Users may encounter system instability (such as kernel panics and crashes).

Multi-window

MapView may be blank when resized in multi-window mode and not focused.

Camera

Apps may encounter Intermittent issues recording and playing back video at 240fps.

Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb mode may be set at device reboot. To work around the issue, delete the existing rule for VR as follows: go to Settings > Sound > Do not disturb > Automatic Rules and tap the trash icon next to the VR rule.

Screen zoom and multiple APKs in Google Play

On devices running Developer Preview 5, Google Play services 9.0.83 incorrectly reports the current screen density rather than the stable screen density. When screen zoom is enabled on these devices, this can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for smaller screens. This issue is fixed in the next version of Google Play services.

On devices running Developer Preview 5, Google Play services 9.0.83 currently reports Vulkan support but not Vulkan version. This can cause Google Play to select a version of a multi-APK app that’s designed for lower Vulkan support on devices with higher version support. Currently, the Google Play Store does not accept uploads of Apps which use Vulkan version targeting. This support will be added to the Google Play Store in the future any Android N devices using the Google Play services 9.0.83 will continue to receive versions of Apps targeting basic Vulkan support.

Android Auto

The version of Google Maps included in Developer Preview 5 (9.30) crashes when used with Android Auto. This issue will be fixed in the next update to Google Maps (9.31), expected in the coming weeks

So, how long do we have to wait until the official N OTAs are available? Google isn’t saying at this point, but I’d hope we’ll see N drop fully and officially before the end of next month. Technically, based on its estimated timeline, Google has until the end of September to release N (“Q3”), though that’s obviously intended to give them some breathing room if they decide they need it.